All Documents in Global Warming Tagged global warming legislation

America’s past experience with establishing regulations to curb pollution provides every reason to believe that enacting comprehensive climate and energy legislation will not only bring environmental and health benefits, but will also unlock technological innovation and boost our economy. Since the nation’s first comprehensive environmental laws in the 1970s, hundreds of dangerous pollutants have been regulated, providing valuable health benefits from reduced exposure to certain toxic chemicals. At the same time, tens of thousands of jobs per year were created in the environmental protection industry, GDP more than tripled, and average household income grew by more than 45 percent. This impressive history of prosperity can be repeated with comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Without it, however, the United States will miss out on new employment opportunities and be left behind in the growing world market that rewards green innovation. Get document in pdf.

America needs comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that will cap carbon pollution, create jobs with investments in clean energy, and increase our national security by reducing oil imports. These are urgent matters; halfway measures that would divert time and attention that should be spent on taking effective action need to be taken off the table. Congress needs to reject measures that appear to address the problem but could actually increase global warming pollution. A bill that deals solely with energy could make global warming pollution worse, would fall short on jobs and national security, and would cost taxpayers more than a comprehensive bill. An “energy-only” proposal is not the way to move forward. Get document in pdf.

For far too long our dependence on oil has undermined our economy and national security. We spend a billion dollars a day to import more than three billion barrels of oil each year, much of which comes from dangerous or unstable parts of the world. We can reduce by more than half the amount of oil we import and make strides toward energy independence by accelerating the transition to advanced, fuel-efficient and electric-powered cars and trucks and by increasing domestic oil production from existing oil fields through a process called carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery. Only a comprehensive approach that combines limits on carbon pollution with investment incentives to build a cleaner, low-carbon energy economy will reduce our dependence on imported oil and preserve and expand the jobs we need to make America more secure. Get document in pdf.

A comprehensive climate and energy bill that includes a cap to reduce emissions would provide the incentives that will create a foundation for the development of a clean energy economy in the United States.